


Hypercubes, Carpetbags, and Other Four-Dimensional Spaces

by Azar



Series: Rebel Yell [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), NCIS
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-24
Updated: 2010-01-24
Packaged: 2017-10-06 15:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azar/pseuds/Azar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Okay, not to be rude or anything? But asking a total stranger, 'Hey, wanna see my big blue box?' is like the lamest pick-up line ever."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hypercubes, Carpetbags, and Other Four-Dimensional Spaces

**Author's Note:**

> Any misuse or abuse of the concept of a hypercube and/or tesseract is entirely on me and I apologize in advance for it if there is any--I did my research, but math was never my strong point so I'm sorry if I missed or misunderstood anything. Also, I am assuming for the purpose of this story that Abby is the same age as Pauley Perrette. This story is set shortly after the 1996 TV movie for Doctor Who, and pre-series for NCIS. And thanks to my beta, mari4212.

"Pardon me: I don't mean to be rude but could you possibly tell me where I am?"

The man was dressed like Oscar Wilde, with romantic curls falling to the shoulders of his green velvet frock coat and a grey silk cravat tucked into a matching waistcoat. He was also standing in front of a large, old-fashioned blue phone booth with the words "Police Box" over the door, like something you might find in an old British movie.

Abby Sciuto loved Oscar Wilde and old British movies.

"Sure," she answered, giving the man a chipper smile and a sly once over. "You, my fine friend, are at the world famous University of New Orleans, in the good old US of A."

"Still on Earth, then," he mused with a mild frown, bringing one hand up thoughtfully to his lips. "You wouldn't also happen to know the year, would you?"

"1989." Abby looked impressed. "That must've been some party! But then I knew that, if the party favors are anything to go by."

The stranger sighed, reaching out a hand to caress the blue box as if it were a favorite car. "So. Not very far at all, then. Not really surprising: we took a bit of a beating back there, didn't we, old girl?"

"So how do you move her?"

He glanced up, looking bewildered. "What?"

Abby pointed at the phone booth. "The big blue party favor. How'd you get her all the way here from...wherever you were coming from? I don't see a forklift around anywhere..."

An enigmatic smile curled the edge of the stranger's lips. "Oh, it's quite simple, really. Would you like to see?" He gestured towards the door.

Abby's eyebrows shot up until they disappeared into her bangs, although the smirk never faded. "Okay, not to be rude or anything? But asking a total stranger, 'Hey, wanna see my big blue box?' is like the lamest pick-up line ever."

The man looked properly chastised. "You're quite right: how terribly thoughtless of me." He stuck a hand out. "I'm the Doctor, by the way."

She grinned, clasping the offered hand firmly in her own. "Abby Sciuto."

The Doctor answered her grin with a brilliant one of his own, blue eyes dancing with mischief and _joie de vivre_. "So, Abby Sciuto: now that we've been properly introduced, would you like to see my big blue box?"

Abby thought about it for less than a second before answering, "Why not? Just one thing..." She held up her wrist, gesturing to the black leather band fastened around it. "These spikes? Not just for show. Try anything hinky--"

He flashed her a smile as bright as the sun. "You have my word. Now: ready?"

Pulling what looked like some sort of odd pendant from a chain around his neck, he slipped it into a keyhole *under* the keyhole in the door and turned the lock. With one last enigmatic glance--with all the allure of an exotic vacation in those smoke-blue eyes--he stepped inside, leaving the door open behind him. There was light shining somewhere inside, but it seemed oddly far away considering the size of the structure.

Abby followed, only to stop dead on the threshold.

If the outside was a phone booth, then the inside could be better described as a cathedral, a cavernous gothic structure with windows streaming with light, a full library and sitting room and some sort of hexagonal control console dwarfed beneath six enormous metal support struts. Even more incredible, while the room itself seemed to stretch on almost into infinity, somewhere across the enormous space she could see glimpses of doorways, hallways, even stairways.

While Abby's mind tried to wrap itself around the impossible sight meeting her eyes, the Doctor headed straight for the control platform, beginning to fiddle with knobs and switches in an almost haphazard manner.

"It's a tesseract!" she finally blurted out.

That got his attention. The Doctor stopped what he was doing and pivoted on one heel to stare at Abby as though she were suddenly the most remarkable thing he'd ever seen. "So it is--very good!" he answered in a tone of surprised but pleased approval. "You know your four-dimensional geometry: most of my companions never would have thought of that."

"Blame D&amp;D--you wouldn't believe the uses they find for dimensional pockets," Abby quipped. "Or Mary Poppins--I always wanted that carpetbag." She stepped inside, letting the door swing gently closed behind her as she continued to take in her incredible surroundings. "This is so cool! Is it just a hypercube, or can you actually bend space and time with it like in Madeleine L'Engle?"

His smile broadened impossibly. "I can indeed, though not in quite the same manner. Abby, I'd like you to meet the TARDIS: stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. She can take you anywhere in the universe, anywhen--past, present or future. Just name it."

Abby regarded him skeptically. "And have me home in time for my eight o'clock class?"

"Absolutely. So? Where would you like to go first?"

First? She almost laughed out loud. First implied that there would be a second, maybe even a third, a fourth and a hundredth. But then again...how many girls got to travel around time and space inside a hypercube disguised as a phone booth? Hell, she'd given serious thought to taking a year off from school to travel the world--this way she could do it and still graduate on time. Abby shook her head in amazement. The possibilities were endless, and yet no more than five minutes ago she would've called the whole idea crazy.

Five minutes: that was about how long she'd known the man who was offering her the universe, and yet she was seriously close to accepting. Maybe she was crazy. "You work this fast with all the girls?"

The Doctor paused, handsome features resolving into a puzzled frown. "You know, I don't know!" A sheepish smile took its place and then he added, "I'm still a bit new to myself, you see."

Ironically, it was that cryptic statement that finally, irrevocably won her trust. Because that was how he seemed: new. Like a man reborn, eager to see the universe through brand new eyes. Abby was hardly old and cynical herself, but like New Orleans, she'd seen a bit of both the best and the worst that humanity had to offer.

Maybe it was time to see what the rest of the universe had to offer.

"Well, I don't want to get too ambitious," she teased. "You show me your best moves right out of the gate, I won't have anything to come back for. So how about starting small: the planet Mars in the year five thousand."

The Doctor smiled. "Perfect."


End file.
